Middle Florida, from the Suwannee to Chattahoochee Rivers, headquarters Quincy, and will receive instructions from General Beauregard at Charleston, with such amount of force as the latter can command. The Government has not the means at this time to do more.

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector-General.

TALLAHASSEE, FLA., November 25, 1862.

General S. COOPER:

Why not establish the department of the part of Florida under command of General Cobb and parts of Georgia and Alabama asked for by the Governors of the three States. With General Cobb in command of it we can raise the force needed without interfering with existing organizations.

Respectfully,

JOHN MILTON,

Governor of Florida.

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Richmond, November 26, 1862.

General G. T. BEAUREGARD, Charleston, S. C.:

GENERAL: Brigadier General Howell Cobb has been assigned to the command of the Department of Middle Florida, extending from the Suwannee to the Choctawhatchee River. As this assignment is within the geographical limits of your command he has been directed to report to you for instructions. To enable you to give these instructions it is proper to inform you that the chief object of this assignment, besides the protection to be given to Tallahassee, is the defense of the Chattahoochee, Flint, and Apalachicola Rivers against the approaches of the enemy by means of their boats.

Although the order restricts the limits of this department to Middle Florida, it is nevertheless contemplated that the instructions to General Cobb should give him a wider discretion, so that his observations and duties may embrace the navigable waters of the Chatahoochee and Flint Rivers. His habitual headquarters have been established in the order at Quincy, Fla., where it was thought he would have the advantage of ready and prompt communication with you by telegraphic lines. Any other position however which you may think better adapted for the headquarters of the department is left to your discretion to determine and direct.

Under the pressure on the Department for troops in various quarters it is feared that an accession of force in that direction may not be immediately given; but relying on the popularity of General Cobb, it is hoped that his efforts to obtain troops in his own State and the adjoining States may be so far successful as to enable them to collect a sufficient force until aid from other quarters can be sent to him.

Very respectfully, &c.,

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General.